We continued to explore the rest of the second floor quietly. I kept an ear out for any more sounds but the house had fallen silent once again. We moved past ruined paintings along the balconied walkways. We progressed along the balconies, searching the rooms as we went. Unlike the servant quarters below ground, the main house was sparse. This became abundantly clear as we entered a library. The shelves of the bookcases, those that hadnât broken or rotted away over time, were bare. There was a handful of ruined books left though, scattered throughout the room at varying heights, Fizzle waddled towards a selection rubbing his hands greedily.
âWhatâs got him so excited?â I murmured to Fiona as she entered behind him, Baruu and Glitters floating through after her. Baruu still looked nervous but she was growing more confident, letting the distance between us grow little by little.
âPotential loot; sometimes thereâs just random loot lying around disguised as scenery.â She replied in muted tones. âThe fact that thereâre books here means that thereâs a good chance for skill books and spell tomes, maybe even a profession recipe.â
I nodded and reached for a book on a high shelf, Fizzle already pulling a couple of books from the bottom shelves, Fiona joined in the search but her focus was a large wooden desk at the far side of the room before yet another darkened fireplace. Filling my arms with what few books remained I moved to join the others at the desk. Fizzle had hopped up onto the grubby remains of a desk chair and was sorting through the books he had collected, cycling through greyed-out item descriptions, I joined him.
Ruined book
Item quality: Junk
The remains of a book long since abandoned. This item can be sold to vendors for a small amount of gold.
The message repeated itself a few more times before either of us got anything different. Fizzle who had been loudly complaining about the trash items before carelessly throwing them aside. Each one landed with a muffled thump, throwing a cloud of dust in the pale lights cast by Glitters and Violet. I heard it again then, something moving above us. I froze and listened. Fizzle squeaked excitedly, breaking my concentration, and causing me to nearly leap out of my green skin. I turned to him as he brandished a book aloft, Fiona looked up from the desk drawer whose lock she was presumably trying to pick. I leaned a little closer, squinting at the book through the eerie light, as an item description popped up.
Spell tome: Burning Brand
Pre-requisite: Fire magic level 10
Int: 15
You point your finger at the target searing a burning rune into their flesh. This brand exists for fifteen seconds and deals 4 points of fire damage every second.
âIâm going to use this.â He told us, looking to each of us as if to make sure it was okay for him to read the book. What was I going to do? Hold onto it until I learned fire magic, if I even wanted to learn fire magic? I didnât; so I shrugged at him, turned away from the two wandering back out onto the landing. My eyes were drawn to a spot halfway up another flight of ascending stairs, Baruu making less noise than usual as she floated closer to me. We both stared at the shadow-infested stairs.
âWhatâs up?â I couldnât help it, I jumped in surprise; Fiona had stalked down the hall behind me.
âOutside! Fiona you scared the shit out of me,â I told her offering a reproachful look. Fiona, I had discovered, through watching her fight at the very least, was styling her playstyle after a thief or a ninja. She certainly had a knack for sneaking up on me even with my improved orcish senses. Fiona simply smiled back at my shock, waiting for an answer to her question. I attempted to recover my composure. âItâs nothing, just looking at the stairs up to the next floor, I swear Iâve been hearing something above us.â
âHuh,â she peered past, examining the stairs, then not seeing anything she turned back to me. âI got into that drawer, there was another journal and some stones. Fizzle is checking the last of the books if you want to do the honours?â
She handed me a slim leather-bound book. The leather was stained black and had patchy gilt lettering across the front in the written language of the game world. While I couldnât read it, I opened the book and received a quest update, another greyed window appearing in front of Fiona; a squawk from the other room told me that Fizzle had received it as well despite being further down the walkway.
I told Smithers to put Alma in the towerâs solar. The doctor says clean air and sunlight will help fight the malignancy that has stricken her. I canât say I had any faith in the man. He isnât a Chosen but he carries around his damned familiar with him, ensured me that his life aligned magic could save her. His treatments did in fact work for a time but alas the malignancy, he now informs me, is not of the natural world...
She has gotten worse and itâs starting to affect the family. My wife sobs in her chambers every night, railing at me that what has befallen sweet little Alma is my fault. I was sent here to oversee the settlement of the so-called Fairfield Isle, thereâs nothing fair about this place, itâs a rocky land, only a relatively small region could support crops. I thought it would be the first step towards our rise in stature but no.
I skipped ahead of the presented dates until I found one that was later than the others and began to read.
Wintembuary
It has been decided, we will be returning to the mainland in the next few days. We can stay here no longer. Alma wails long into the night and it has taken its toll on her mother. She demanded we leave, but that Alma remains. We talked long into the night about this and I have grudgingly agreed. I have planned for a skeleton staff to remain. I have arranged for Falstad, one of my stout men and a matron to tend to the girl. I will arrange for those who can wield magic to ease Almaâs suffering when we make it to the mainland, assuming we can beat the winter storms.
1/1 Butlerâs Journal
1/1 Masterâs Journal
0/1 Matronâs journal
I put the book away into my inventory as Fizzle trotted to join us, Violetâs bright, flickering purple fire light pushing back the gloom. He carried two books in his skinny arms, I cocked an eyebrow at him and Fiona smiled, clearly getting something, I didnât.
âHere to bribe us?â She smirked. âOffer us some skill and spell books to leave the dungeon early and to abandon the quest.â
âNah,â he waved her off and presented her with a book. âIf weâre going to get involved in a noble quest, weâre probably going to have to go to some mean places. I donât want to be like those assholes that showed me the ropes.â
He sounded a little hurt I noted, I understood his desire to head to the mainland. He had talked to me about this game nonstop since it launched a year and a half ago and he was excited to show me all the wonders this game had to offer a console peasant like myself. He likely felt that Fiona was getting in the way even though she was his friend. I offered him a tusky grin and clapped a hand to his shoulder he winced.
âYou havenât been, dude. Iâm having a blast,â I assured him. âOne of those books for me?â
âYeah, itâs an earth spell, but you may not be able to learn it yet.â He warned as he handed over the squat book.
Thanking him, I took it and gave it a quick once over. It had a battered brown cover with faded black lettering in the game worldâs language that I couldnât read. I focused in on it after turning it over in my hands.
Spell tome: Transmute Metal [Ritual]
Ritual
Cast time: 10 minutes
You can convert 1kg of copper into iron, the mana cost of the spell is 10 mana per minute.
You can choose to spend more mana to convert an alloy of copper into iron at a greater mana cost.
Pre-requisites:
Earth Magic Level 25
That sounded awesome, I assumed that iron weapons would deal more damage too. I excitedly brought up my character menu, scrolling down to my skill list. My heart fell, my magic skill was only Level four. I thought about it that seemed rather low compared to the rate at which I was acquiring martial abilities and skill levels. Shrugging, I deposited the spell book into my inventory, throwing an apologetic smile at Fizzlewiz.
âNot high enough, eh?â He asked, giving my knee a reassuring pat on his way past me towards the set of stairs up to the second floor, a tall spiralling affair sat at the far end of each walkway.
âI donât like this place,â Fiona informed us as we arrived on the second floor. The staircase had led up into a partitioned living space, ruined loungers and overturned side tables poked out from the accumulated filth of the years. âThis place has a lived-in feel.â She continued, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering. âI hate the Necro species.â
I sniffed the air, catching the familiar scents of my friends as gross as it was comforting. Fionaâs unease of the dungeon was now amplifying my own. Fizzle however, strode forward like he was a conquering hero, weaving his way through the strewn rubbish, looking around until he vanished from sight. Fiona and I, our monsters floating behind, followed the ballsy little magic-user. As we moved through a large open room, walking past long faded portraits of family members and burned-out gas lanterns, Violetâs light bobbing through one of a set of doorways no doubt leading to another selection of private chambers and a staircase to the next floor above. As we moved on unhindered, I found myself letting out a weary sigh and looking around. The hall we were in was bare, broken doors lay at our feet and claw-like slashes parted the wallpaper and carpentry within. I reached up and touched one of the markings finding it smooth as though sanded. Baruu floated closer with a quiet bleat, her floral musk filling my nostrils as she nuzzled in, breathing hard. I tensed up and rose to retrieve my axe and ready my shield. My companions had split off from me as I had examined the marks, I could hear them looting individual rooms back down the hall. I took a fighting stance and waited as Baruu floated nearby, gazing out into the dark, the light of the monsters fading as they retreated deeper into the chambers with their masters.
âOkay Baby Ruu, what are you sensing that Iâm not?â I asked the little creature who lowed at me in response before buffing me with a tailwind spell. I sighed and moved forward, nothing we had encountered including the boss monsters we had fought had been that tough, I rationalized as I broke away from the others and their looting. I continued down the hall, past a vacant doorway that lead into what appeared to be some sort of bathing chamber, absently wondering how long it would take to fill the large stone basin with hot water as I eyed the room cautiously. I heard a creak from somewhere further down the hall. I started on my way again, then thought better of it sending a quick message in party chat to the others.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Blue: Heard something, going to go check it out.
Fizzlewiz: Alright, donât get dead buddy.
I closed the window and advanced into the dark hallway, Kindlers Axe at the ready, Baruu floating behind me. We moved slowly together, ready for anything; me with my axe raised and Baruu quiet and focused. I marvelled at the little creatureâs tenacity in the face of an environment it found adverse and unsettling; not that I didnât share the sentiment, but I was larger, and I had an axe. I leapt out of my skin as my axe met unexpected resistance. There was something in front of me. I held the weapon out in front of me as if to fend off the gathering dark. I grumbled, not having any source of light and began to feel around, in the end, I discovered I had made it to a door, where it went was beyond me, but I was willing to guess that it led to the staircase up the third and final floor, where the entrance to the tower solar was meant to be located. The questâs objective asked that we piece together the clues of what happened to the family in this Manor. As I had no new quest notifications, I had to assume that the journal we were looking for wasnât on this floor. I looked back down the hall seeing that the lights of both my friendâs creatures had advanced further down the hall but still emanated from now open doors I had elected to ignore.
I tried the door before me discovering that it was locked. I frowned, turning, and proceeded to the dimly lit of the doorways Iâd ignored before. I found Fiona rummaging through what appeared to be another bedroom, the collapsed remains of a bed heaped against one wall. Glitters floated in one corner far from the grimy windows, her shallow pool of light illuminating Fiona as she sorted through a pile of objects. She glanced over at me as Baruu and I came in through the door. She offered a smile and quirked an eyebrow.
âHave you found a key?â I asked her, lingering near the door.
âNo,â she shook her head. âMight be back in the living room in all that crap on the floor.â
I sighed, nodded, and headed back down the hall to the living space weâd first entered after climbing up from the floors below. I passed Fizzleâs door, Violet was bobbing around inside while Fizzle rooted around what appeared to be a study, a few small stacks of books surrounding him. He was leaning into magic use unlike Fiona and I, who had a primarily melee focuses. I continued on my way. The living-room was much as it was as we had left it. Baruu sped past me to inspect the mound and, floated above it circling, occasionally descending to sniff at interesting item within the mass. I sighed, no sense in putting it off, I waded into the heaps of who knows what, shoving aside the bones of ruined furniture with my shield and began to search.
The minutes ticked by and I found nothing and neither of my companions had emerged from the rooms they were searching, their more experienced eyes seeing the potential of each room than I did. All I saw was junk, festering things, ruined couches, loungers, chairs, all damp. It stunk like nothing I had ever experienced and I wrinkled my squat nose at it, moving forward to wade into the greatest volume of heaped detritus. As I moved into it, I met an unusual resistance that held me in check for a moment before it shoved back. Having been using my shield to knock things aside I was able to bring it to bare and only be shoved back rather than knocked to the ground. I exhaled then breathed deep trying to calm my growing excitement. I focused on the heap, a name with a gold sword icon popping into existence.
Midden heap horror, Level eight.
It had a golden sword next to its name. I winced and backed up, turning to call down the hall. The horror remained still, green vapor leaking from it, quickly engulfing me in a stinking mist. I found myself coughing, a new icon appeared cheerfully announcing that I was poisoned. Coughing and spluttering as I was, I couldnât call out. Baruu bleated from somewhere above the mist obscuring my vision, the midden heap horror an unmoving shadow.
With a snarl, I chose to advance triggering Frenzy first then a series of punishing Wild blows, each strike biting into the pile. Junk was knocked from its mass with each successive swing of my weapon. Its HP dropped to eighty nine percent and it rippled, exposing a grinning skull, pale blue light burning in its empty sockets for a second then it was gone as a wave of garbage covered it over anew. It retracted for a moment then the grinning face was in front of me again, the ragged remains of a dress did little to conceal the rib cage beneath. It had two boney arms reaching out towards me jaws agape. I brought my shield up, interposing it as I readied Kindlerâs Axe for another strike, another icon appearing informing me that I had an active Tailwind buff, then blades of wind rained down around us both. Baruu it seemed, outside of the poison cloud, only had the vaguest idea of where the boss monster and I were. It was a risky gambit, my own health was steadily depleting as the poison condition ticked way, renewing itself with every breath I took in of the moundâs foul miasma. As the blades impacted into the ground, the accompanying gusts of winds dissipated the poison, then Baruu cast a spell I hadnât seen before. As wind gathered around me, I was pulled away by the growing breeze back towards the entrance of the hall, as I did Baruu followed as fast as her little clouds would let her. I heaved in a breath; my burning lungs then yelled as loud as I could.
âCONTACT!â It came out as a bestial roar, the words nearly lost to the primal explosion of sound. I turned back to the mound.
It was advancing towards me once more, the skeletal pieces absorbed into the mound once more, but I could still see the face surfacing every so often to leer at me, hungrily. The sound of carpeted footfalls behind me told me that at least one of my companions was on their way to help. The purple and orange fire that began crackling past me a few moments later answered as to who had responded first.
Fizzlewiz came barrelling down the hall as fast as his little legs would carry him, Violet speeding ahead to begin afflicting the midden heap horror with a variety of hex and fire-based damage-over-time spells. As he drew next to me, he paused long enough to shove a healing potion into my hands before scurrying to hide behind the remains of an overturned table. He began casting a moment later and I, began to circle the creature that now used towering mounds of detritus as limbs to swat at the flying creatures. Glitters appeared at the mouth of the hall a moment later, adding its own brand of magical destruction to the volleys eating away at the bossâs health which, now that it had my attention again, was around sixty percent and steadily falling. It paused for a moment, as it tried to decide who was worth its time the most before surging forward with surprising speed towards Fizzlewizâs makeshift barricade. I chugged the potion the burned a fourth Ki point, bellowing a challenge at the mound which turned it towards me again. I met it in the middle of the room and we collided, swinging my axe at the emerging skeletal limbs that, now that itâs health was below fifty percent, held rusting jagged implements. One of which struck my shield, the other plunged into my leg then carved a long furrow through the flesh of my thigh taking a chunk of my hit points with it as it withdrew. Ouch, the pain vanished quickly as per usual, however I noted grimly that a bleed icon had appeared, which made sense as blood pooled at my feet, I moved slower too.
I thought I was finished as the mound surged over me. Pinning me to the floor and pressing down with all its considerable weight. I struggled to keep what breath I had and stole what stinking gasps I could. It writhed on top of me, my HP slowly bleeding away. All around me was the mass of the creature, I could feel it crushing me. There was hope though. I could still see the creatureâs nameplate and health bar. I looked at my own and the mounds. I was far worse off, but still the creaturesâ HP was steadily falling.
I inspected the combat log and saw that Fizzlewiz was casting faster than before, no doubt with the assistance of Baruu. I felt a pang then as the weight above me crushed down on my struggling ribs. I struggled against the weight trying to wriggle free any way I could, I had to think of something or I was going to die under this creature. I didnât know what happened when players died, no one had really talked about it when convincing me to join in. A party message popped up.
Fizzlewiz: Use stone skin, noob.
I blinked; I had totally forgotten about the spell I had received when I had unlocked the earth magic affinity. I barked the command word after frantically searching my memory on how to activate spells. Sergeant Miller had said panic affected spellcasting like it did martial performance. I forced myself to focus, taking what shallow breaths I could. A calm settled in a moment later along with the sounds of skill alert, a point of Ki vanished.
Skill unlocked
Centre Self
Cast time: instant
Cost: 1 Ki
You flood your body with Ki gaining mastery of your physical form granting you the ability to slow your heart rate and breathing at will. Additionally, this ability block out unhelpful emotions in the heat of combat or a fancy dinner.
I thought of the spell and, like magic, my skin hardened like stone, the incoming damage lessened to a few points a second. I couldnât heal myself, but as I watched, the monster atop had its own issues. The intensity at which the mass of furniture, busted decorations, containers, papers, and whatever else writhed atop me with increased frequency. The resisted weight lessening as it tried to flee. I sat up gasping in air, the Stoneskin spell timing out. I looked at the now piteous creature. Chunks of burning stuff littered the small rooms but the magical fires did not spread further. The skeletal remains of someone I now saw, was totally exposed as it flailed uselessly to swat the slowing barrage of spells. I rose, drinking a healing potion retrieved from my inventory, the aches throughout my abused body lessened but the exhaustion of a depleting stamina bar was starting to wash over me. I advanced none the less, tottering towards the cowering mass. It died though, as Fiona appeared in a puff of shadows, plugging her bronze dagger into one of the blackened and burned eye sockets. It thrashed small limbs of trash one last time and then went still as it broke into the gentle light show.
We rested for a while after that, Fizzle handing Fiona a bunch of books and a couple more potions I had never seen before. Presumably looted by him from one of the rooms Iâd ignored given that we had not yet been to inspect the loot pile and chest left by the Midden heap horror. I ached. Baruu, exhausted from the apparent heavy use of her magic, trembled next to me as she rested. I noted she was sweating as I brushed at her cotton-like fleece. The other monsters were in little better shape; their glows had dwindled into small puddles of light, fewer lights danced within Glitters, and Violetâs flickering flames were short and listless. Fizzle approached the chest, ignoring the pile of stones in favour of the bigger prize. He opened it.
Fizzlewiz has found Matronâs journal.
Fizzlewiz has obtained the third-floor key.
Matronâs Cowl
Armor: Light
Item quality: Rare
+1 INT
+1 WIS
Exquisite Life Affinity Stone
Item quality: Crafted (Exceptional)
Unlocks the Life magic affinity when consumed by a creature.
I hit âgreedâ on the stone and declined to roll on the garment deciding that it was probably better for the magic orientated Fizzlewiz, Fiona did the same and he thanked us. He ended up winning the life stone as well. As I rose, I began gathering the unidentified stones also left by the boss monster; I would identify them after the run and we could roll for them then. The others hadnât complained so far either. I turned at a slap on my back, it was Fizzlewiz, shaking his tiny hands as though it stung, the other clutched the pearlescent life stone. He offered it to me.
âFeed it to Baruu.â He told me as I accepted the stone, his hands now going to his hips in balled fists. âIf youâre going to go and fight the monsters head-on like a loon, Iâm not going to stop you, but weâd be able to stockpile these potions if you had a dedicated healer. Potions on the mainland are expensive.â
Taking the stone, I turned to the resting Baruu presenting it to her on a flat hand. She opened one eye to inspect what was offered then shuffled forward to lick at it. It took a few moments, but she eventually took the stone, it apparently had a biscuit-like quality when a monster was eating it.
There was a jingle and a series of notifications began to pop up.
Congratulations, Baruu has gained the life magic affinity. Would you like to activate Baruuâs dormant magical affinities? A monster can have four active affinities at any one given time. Currently she possesses the following affinities:
* Water
* Nature
*
Baruu has learned two new spells,
Lesser Heal: Heal the target for 10 points damage
Minor Cleanse: Cleanse the target of a weak poison or lesser curse effect.
Baruu has gained access to the following spells:
Renew (Nature): The target is healed for fifty points of damage over 25 seconds.
Entangling Vines: The target is entangled by vines slowing and restricting movement. Some creatures may become totally ensnared by theses thick vines.
Mist: Obscure a fifteen-foot radius sphere with thick mists.
All creatures that enter this mist are more likely to miss while attacking.
Ice Shard: Hurl a shard of ice dealing 15 points frost damage to a target.
I began closing menus, only for more to pop into their place. Informing me that I had levelled up; I dumped points into wisdom, constitution, strength, and dexterity. My bars refilled and the aches and exhaustion vanished instantly, making me feel reinvigorated, I noted excitedly that the others had levelled up as well. These boss monsters were steadily feeding our experience bars. Each boss had been worth thousands of exp each. We received a sizable contribution of exp every time we opened one of the quest journals I noticed,as I closed a quest update to see that Fizzle had flicked through the book already though not paying it any attention. A new objective was in the place of the previous three, I winced as I read it.
Lay Alma to rest 0/1.